The World As We Knew It
by rawritscasey
Summary: Post-Fang. The apocalypse is closing in and a dark organization is desperate for Max's help. But they threaten the lives of her flock... and Fang. Once Max and Fang reunite, will they pick up where they left off, or have they moved on?  Chapter 9 is up!
1. One Month Later

Hey people! So this is my first fan fiction story that I have written. I love, love, LOVE Maximum Ride and I thought, _Hey, why not write about it? _And so I did!

Also, I thought it would be fun to add a song for each chapter. So, the first song is going to be...  
Gone by _Matt Nathanson_

Summary: It's been one month since Fang left the flock and they have been trying to cope with that lose. Her Voice is still trying to convince her that Dylan is her perfect mate, and the funny thing is, she is starting to believe it. But Max has bigger things to worry about than her boy drama; a new enemy is approaching. All of the flocks lives are in danger yet again and the only way to save everyone just might be the only thing that Max is incapable of doing.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Maximum Ride; James Patterson does. I do not claim any of the existing characters as my own. Although I will be adding new characters... so I guess _those_ are mine. :D

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**The World As We Knew It  
**Chapter 1: One Month Later

_I stared at this boy in front of me. He was so beautiful. His black hair fell over his black eyes. He was smiling. At me. _

_"I love you, Maximum," he says. He sounds just like him. My heart skitters as he reached one hand toward me. He brushed a stray hair from my face. His hand lingers on my cheek, cupping it. I lean my face into his warmth, feeling not so alone anymore. I smile and close my eyes, relishing this moment. Knowing that it will not last forever. I want to stay in this world forever, being with him for the rest of time. No worries. No responsibilities. No hassle. Just him and me. Together forever, like it was meant to be. _

_I open my eyes and gaze at his stunning look. I memorize every couture, every line, every scar, and every other detail of his face. His smile starts fading, and he has a hard expression. He rips his hand from my face and backs away from me. I'm screaming in my head to step toward him, just an inch. But my body doesn't obey. He backs further away and stops, stares at me._

_"I leaving, forever," he proclaims. His body starts turning around, facing the opposite direction. I want to reach for him, to tell him not to go away. Just as I'm thinking this, he stops and looks over his shoulder. His eyes are cast in shadow by his dark bangs. _

_"I'm sorry," he says quietly and faces the other way. I want to cry, but I can't. My body won't let me. I want to chase after him as he starts walking away. But my feet stay firmly planted on the ground. I stare after him, until I can no longer see his form. _

_And then he's gone._

_Fang's gone._

I took in a sharp breath and sat up fast, getting quite a head rush. I clutched my face in trembling, sweaty hands.

"Ugh, not again," I mumbled to myself as I scanned the room. Nobody in here. Hmm.

I swung my bare legs over the side of my bed and sank my feet into the plush carpet. I stood up and looked over at the window, golden waterfalls of light falling from it. I looked back at my alarm clock.

8:36AM.

Why hadn't anybody woken me up? I strode over to my dresser and pulled a random pair of jeans from the top, sliding into them. Before I left the room, I checked myself in the mirror.

Oh man.

I looked like I had gotten two hours of sleep in my entire life. The purple tints under my eyes were even more visible than before and my hair looked like ten birds nests put together. I managed to smooth it out with a couple swipes of my brush. But my eyes were still bloodshot and I looked super pale, like I hadn't seen a glimpse of the sun in weeks.

And well, I guess that I haven't had too much sun. I've been staying inside most of the time.

For those of you who are late in the game and don't know what happened, my boyfriend, well, ex boyfriend, Fang, left our flock a month ago and I had been pretty crushed.

'Pretty crushed' is not the right expression though. Try something more like 'completely destroyed emotionally'. For the first few days after he left, I stayed in my room, surfing the internet and crying into my pillow. But I knew that I had to pull it together and be strong for the flock, who was also destroyed by the news. We had been a family for our whole lives, and for those of you who have lost family members close to you, you probably know how we felt. It was like a huge chunk of our lives had been ripped away, leaving jagged cuts and unbearable pain.

I had to suck it up and be there for my flock when I was the one who was hurting the most. Fang and I had been in love. After many lingering kisses and longing feelings, we finally got together. I had been happier than I had been in my whole life. I guess that I knew it wouldn't last forever, because knowing me, happy things like this never do. But I didn't expect it to end so abruptly.

We all stayed indoors for a couple days, not really doing much of anything. Gazzy and Iggy stayed on the couch most of the time, watching movies and TV. Nudge had been pretty quiet, which was really shocking since she never seemed to be capable of shutting up. Angel alternated from hanging out with Gazzy and Iggy, then with me. But she mostly stayed around Dylan.

Dylan.

Speaking of him, I think I might honestly hate him for what he put into Fang's head. I mean that he should leave because he was putting the flock in danger. Really Dylan? The flock is always in some kind of danger. That doesn't mean anything. But he got Fang to believe him, which is why I hate him. Another reason that I hate him is that he keeps hitting on me. Which is totally uncalled for! The man I loved had just left me and he thought it was okay to put the moves on me?

Um, no thank you!

I strode down the hallway and into the living room. Nudge was sitting on the couch with the new laptop, staring intently at the screen, which cast a blue glow over her face. I walked further into the living room and say that Iggy was at the stove, cooking what smelled like pancakes. Gazzy and Angel were sitting at the counter, drizzling syrup on, yep, pancakes. I sighed.

Things had gone somewhat back to normal. We had not had any run-ins with Erasers or any other nemesis, which was refreshing. We took this time to rest and relax, after some of us stopped crying nonstop.

"Bad dream?" a voice whispered into my ear. Their hot breath tickled my skin and made me jump. I spun around and found myself standing in front of Dylan. He was smiling down at me, his dark blonde hair rumpled from sleep. I wanted to run my fingers through it.

Wait. Whoa, did I just think that? Ew, no! Forget I thought that!

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. He smirked.

"You talk in your sleep, Max," he explained. I blushed hard. Oh crap. How much had he heard?

"What exactly did you hear?" I asked, taking a step closer to him so I was right in his face. His turquoise eyes flashed with something I couldn't read. But all he did was smile, wink, and walk past me, brushing my shoulder as he strode.

To say the least, this infuriated me. Anybody who knows me knows that you never walk away when I ask you a question, especially this one. And that wink? He was going to play dearly for that.

I had the sudden urge to attack him, like I always did when he came into my line of vision. But I pushed it away, knowing that it would upset the flock.

Instead, I spun around and called after him.

"Hey, I asked you a question butthead!" I said. Nudge's eyes lifted from her screen and she stared at me and Dylan, looking a little frightened, like she thought there would be a fist fight, which there might if Dylan kept acting like this towards me. Gazzy, distracted from eating, looked at us, a fork hanging from his mouth. Angel continued eating her pancakes, glancing occasionally toward me. Iggy left a pancake in the pan on the stove, letting it burn as he watched.

Dylan turned, unaffected by my tone, and grinned at me.

"Calm down Max, have some breakfast," he said simply. Nudge gasped and Gazzy started choking on the pancake in his mouth. Iggy's mouth dropped to the floor and Angel stayed composed, still chomping away on her pancakes.

"What?" I asked sternly. Another thing about me, you never tell me to 'calm down' when I'm completely enraged. Nudge stood up quickly from her seat on the couch and walked to the bathroom, as did Iggy and Gazzy, dragging Angel with them. Once the door clicked behind them, I flashed a furious look at Dylan. I started stepping closer to him.

"Sorry, you just look like you could use something to eat," he said. He smiled again. Oh man, he was in trouble. Was he serious? He thought he could get away with acting like this toward me? Well, no! I was not having any of this smart business.

"You need to stop acting like you own the place, you piece of crap," I commanded. I sent imaginary daggers into his face as he looked down at me. But he didn't look scared at all, which only made me even more mad. Did he think this was a joke?

"Seriously Max, you have been acting so uptight lately. You really need to relax. Do you want a massage, because I'd be more then willing to give you one," he suggested. My expression shifted from mad, to completely and utterly furious. I bared my teeth at him.

"What did you just say to me?" I hissed through my teeth. This boy is in serious danger of getting his perfect face smashed in. He held up his hands defensively and widened his beautiful, deep blue eyes.

Oh my gosh, what am I thinking?

"Jeez, just trying to help," he said, sounding hurt. But I knew it was just an act. I pushed him with just enough force for him to go flying into the kitchen counter, rattling the dishes residing on it. He composed himself and rubbed his back end.

"Okay Max, seriously Max, you need to cool it," he sounded mad now. Good.

I walked up to him and sent my fist crashing into his stomach. He doubled over on the floor, hunched over on his knees.

"I don't want to fight you," he spat.

"Then don't give yourself a reason to, doofus," I growled into his ear, leaning down to hoist him to a standing position. He staggered backward and stared at me, looking seriously hurt now. This was no act.

"You can't keep going off on me for every little thing I say," he told me. He was still clutching his stomach. I had hit him a little harder than I meant to. Wait, why am I actually feeling bad about this?

"Then stop saying stuff like that," I said. He lifted his shirt to reveal his stunning six-pack. And also a forming bruise right square in the middle of his abdomen. I cringed.

Okay, yeah, I felt bad. Whatever.

"Oh, I didn't mean to bruise you," I said sympathetically. He looked up from himself and smirked at me.

"It's fine," he assured me and pulled his shirt down. There was a little bit of an awkward silence between us. I stared intently on the floor, no knowing what to say. I can't believe I actually apologized to that creep.

Suddenly, I saw his feet step into the space in front of mine and I lifted my gaze, scanning his body the whole way up, which was totally wrong of me to do. I made it to his eyes, which seemed to be sparkling. What the heck is going on?

"Even though you're a mess, Max, you still look beautiful," he complimented. Oh my lord. I don't think I have ever blushed so hard in my life. And why was I? I didn't like him. At all.

_Yes you do_. I almost jumped at the sound of my voice returning. I remained composed so Dylan wouldn't notice. I let out a nervous laugh and gave him a half hearted smile.

"I haven't seen you smile in so long. I was beginning to miss it," he said, leaning closer to me. Whoa, holy crap. This isn't right.

_Aw, you two are perfect for each other_, the voice said.

My breath caught in my throat.

_Are you kidding me?_ I asked my Voice. I really, really didn't need this right now.

_Let your instincts guide you. You know what you want._

Whoa, what was he saying? Well, my instincts were telling me to punch Dylan right in the nose, so I would be happy to follow them. But then, Dylan leaned even closer to me and my head clouded with crazy thoughts that I'm not proud of.

"Something wrong?" Dylan asked, looking concerned. His face was mere inches from mine. I felt to warm breath on my mouth. It smelled minty. Wait, no! Stop it Max! Stop it! Snap out of it!

_I'm telling you, Max, follow your instincts._

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I stared at Dylan who was closer than he had ever been to me.

"Everything's fine," my mouth said. In my head, I was screaming at myself to run away. You're getting yourself in deep trouble Max! Why was I not slapping in right in the face for this behavior? Why was my body numb all of the sudden? Oh God, what's happening to me? Teenage hormones? Yeah, that must be it. Otherwise, I would never be this close to Dylan.

"You look a little frazzled. Is there anything I can do?" he asked in a deep voice, leaning even closer to him. I actually felt his lips ever so slightly graze the tips of mine. What the f-

His hands snaked up my back and up to my neck, cradling it. His fingertips burned into my skin. It felt good.

What am I doing? What am I doing? What the heck am I doing?

My hands found their way up his toned arms and rested on his broad shoulders.

_This was meant to be, Max. Accept it._

I ignored the Voice and focused on the developing situation. This was so, soooo wrong! This cant really be happening, right? Right?

"There might be," I whispered. Then I did the most mind-boggling thing: I smashed my lips into his.

Okay, so one minute I'm punching him in the stomach, and the next I'm kissing the guy? Sometimes, I don't understand myself. His hands felt so smooth and gentle on my skin. His fingers inched their way down my arms and to my waist, which he grabbed and crushed against his own. And I totally let him.

My arms wrapped around his neck and I pulled him to me, deepening the kiss. His touch electrified my skin wherever he came into contact with it. My body actually arched into his, completely closing the gap between us.

A low hum traveled up my throat, out my mouth, and into Dylan's mouth. I felt him smile against my lips. He began to kiss me even harder, and I kissed him back.

Whoa, this is absolutely not real.

I had never noticed how smooth his skin was, or how good he smelled. Mostly because I never really wanted to get this close to him. Because of Fang.

Fang.

I pushed on his chest and our lips disconnected with an ugly sucking sound. I stepped back and looked away, covering my mouth with a shaking hand.

Oh no. Did I really just do that? Am I that stupid?

_Accept that you want to be with Dylan, Max._

_What about Fang!_ I cried at the Voice. I cannot believe I just did that. With Dylan, of all bird kids!

_Fang is no longer with you. You have to move on._

_What if I don't want to?_ I asked. Then I noticed that I was standing awkwardly in front of Dylan. I looked back at him and cringed inwardly.

"I didn't mean to do that," I mumbled and turned around.

_Dylan is your perfect mate. He is here for you, while Fang is not._

My Voice was starting to get on my nerves again. I started to walk back to my room, when I noticed the bathroom door was cracked slightly open.

Uh oh.

The stunned faces of Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy (Thank God Iggy hadn't really seen that!) shone through the crack. Angel, on the other hand, was smiling. That little creep. Her smile quickly faded when I thought that. Oops. I forgot, she reads minds.

"Um," I croaked. The words I wanted to say caught in my throat. How was I going to explain this?

"Max, what are you-" Nudge began, but was cut off by a loud thumping noise. The bathroom door flung open and the kids piled out, surveying the room for the source. I quickly snapped out of my trance and began looking around, only to freeze when my gaze landed on the window to the deck. A giant Eraser stood on the other side, staring at each and every one of us.

This was a new kind of Eraser. It was bigger than ever. It looked even more dangerous too. I almost doubted that I could take one down by myself. Only for a second, though. Because I'm invincible Max. I can do anything. Well, except resist teen hotties when they are kissing me and I'm still hung up on another guy. But that's besides the point.

I immediately got into my fighting stance and prepared myself. But just then, five more Erasers, of the same size, came thumping down on the deck. One of them broke the glass of the window with one swift punch, sending a shard flying right toward me, slicing my cheek pretty good.

Resting time is over. Time to face life. Well, the life of a runaway bird kid.

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I actually uploaded this earlier, but I hadn't proofread it at all beforehand. So you could imagine all of the spelling errors and such that I found. So I had to delete it and re-upload it. I really hope that you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it, at least. Ha-ha.

More chapters to come, so look out for them. Some of them will be about Fang and his adventures away from the flock.

~Rawritscasey


	2. It Sucks the Life Out of Me

Woo! Chapter 2 time! I tried to leave the first chapter with a cliffhanger because I LOVE cliffhangers, so expect more of those!

Chapter 2 Song: You're Going Down by _Sick Puppies_

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Maximum Ride; James Patterson does. I do not claim any of the existing characters as my own. Although I will be adding new characters... so I guess those are mine. :D_  
_

* * *

**The World As We Knew It  
**Chapter 2: It Sucks the Life Out of Me

I reached up to cup my cheek. I felt warm blood pooling out of the deep cut. Alright, now I was even more mad.

I did a quick scan of the living room. Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge were in their fighting stances, eagerly awaiting the battle. Angel, on the other hand, was no where to be seen. Um, weird. I whipped my head around to face Dylan. A shard of glass was sticking half out of left side. He had a grimace on his face. He ripped the piece of glass out and about four inches of glass came out, blood soaked. Ouch.

I made the first move. I launched myself at the first Eraser. I smashed headfirst into its chest, but it didn't budge a bit. Its chest felt like stone when it connected with my face. What the?

I shook my head, willing the pain in my left eye away, and slowly dragged my gaze up to its face. Its eyes were red and its teeth were bared. Uh oh.

Since I was still a little delirious from smashing my head into a rock hard chest, I didn't register the Erasers next move. It raised its left arm, extended at about four feet, and sent it crashing into the right side of my head, hitting me right in the temple.

My body went flying into the wall, leaving a large Max-sized dent. I slid down the wall and came down hard on the floor. My arms lay limp at my sides and my legs were completely numb.

Had this big doofus snapped my spine?

I opened my eyes and the scene I saw was completely blurry. I saw figures moving and being flung across the room. I heard voices, but I couldn't exactly understand what they were saying. They sounded so far away. It was like someone was talking to me through a window.

I saw a dark figure coming toward me, it had to be one of these Erasers because it was humongous.

I tried to move my legs, but they wouldn't do what my brain was telling them. I slowly managed to curl my fingers into fists. But that wasn't going to help me. I still couldn't see clearly.

"Max!" a voice called to me. But I couldn't tell who it came from. There was screaming and grunting. I wanted so badly to get my butt up and help my flock. But my body was completely limp. I was helpless. I hated it!

I looked down at the floor around me as my vision finally started to clear and saw that I had knocked down a photo from the wall I had just smashed into.

I waited a moment for the picture to become clearer.

And of course it was a picture of Fang and me. He had his arm around me, looking at me and smiling as I stared into the camera.

_I need you, Fang, _I thought as I began looking up at my attacker.

My vision had cleared completely now. I began to feel growing sensation in my legs. I wiggled my toes and attempted to curl my legs up to me to push myself up. But the Eraser was faster than my injured body.

A hand caught me in the throat and began to lift me into the air. I was still against the wall, but my feet were hovering over the floor. Strangled cries came from my throat as I tried to suck in air. My legs flailed out from under me, kicking the Eraser as hard as I could. My hands flew up to his fingers and I tried to pry them off my neck. But, of course, they wouldn't budge.

My eyes darted around the room to see how everybody was holding up. Nudge had managed to climb onto the back of one of the Eraser and was gauging at its eyes with her sharp nails. Iggy was dodging all of the punches and kicks of another Eraser, sensing its movements. Angel was standing in front of one of them, a crazy look on her face, as an Eraser stood in front of her, a blank expression on its face. Most likely another one of her mind control tricks. Dylan picked up a steel kitchen chair and smashed it into the Eraser he was fighting. But it seemed unaffected by the blow. Seeing this, Dylan quickly roundhouse kicked it in the neck. A sickening snap sounded and the Erasers head was bent at an unnatural angle when it crashed to the ground, defeated.

So their weak spot is their necks. Hmm. If I could, I would snap this Erasers head right off, but its grip was already tight on my neck, so no such luck.

I looked back at my strangler whose red eyes were now glowing. Huh?

_This new type of Eraser feeds off the energy of its victims. Max, it's sucking the life out of you, literally. _

_Thanks for the update_, I snapped and tried my hardest to reach my fingers toward this Erasers face, but its arms were much longer than mine. I barley reached to its upper arms.

"You can't defeat me, Maximum Ride. I have already absorbed half of your energy level. You are defeated," the Eraser declared.

Was this really how life was going to end for me? Having the life sucked out of me. I thought I would go a more heroic way, like giving my life for one of my flock. Not like this. Not now.

But there wasn't a whole lot I could do about at the moment. This Eraser had me right were he wanted me. None of my kicks were doing anything to it. I clawed at its arms, trying to break the skin. But my nails were too short to do much damage. I immediately regretted clipping my nails yesterday.

The Eraser began laughing as my vision started blacking out. My legs fell limp beneath me and my arms stopped fighting. Hot tears stung my eyes as my vision blurred out, replaced by black.

And then, there was nothing.

"Max! Max, wake up!" a voice screamed into my ear. My eyes shot open and I saw the worried face of Dylan. It looked like the left side of his face had been shoved into a blender. Some blood dripped onto my face. I cringed and sat up. I wiped the drip of blood from my cheek with the back of my hand. An unbearable pain commenced in the whole right side of my head. I clutched my head and groaned. I felt a comforting hand on my upper back, supporting me upright as I started falling back down.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, looking genuinely concerned. I wanted to scream and sob at how bad my head hurt, but I didn't want to look like that in front of Dylan. I had to stay strong. I had to be the rock.

"Yeah," I managed to choke out. My throat was absolutely killing me-no pun intended.

It was then that I became aware of what was around me. The Eraser that had attacked Dylan was still lying on the ground. The one that had attacked me was also limp on the floor, neck bent at an awkward angle. Had Dylan snapped this ones neck too?

_Dylan saved your life, Max,_ the Voice told me.

_Crap_, I thought, _Does that mean that I owe him now, or something._

_You could finally accept that Dylan is your perfect mate._

I rolled my eyes and slowly stood up. I had to cling to Dylan's arm to support myself since I was in real danger of falling over. My head was swimming.

"Whoa, are you sure?" Dylan questioned as he clutched my arm when my feet slipped out from under me.

"I'm fine!" I snapped. I slapped his hand away and staggered away from him. Then I realized that Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Angel were still fighting four Erasers. I lunged at the one that had Iggy in a choke hold. I jumped on its back and held on tight as it started jerking this way and that in an attempt to shake me off. I grasped both sides of its head, remembering what their weakness is, and jerked it to the right.

Blood gushed from its mouth, some of it getting in Iggy's hair. I jumped off its back as it toppled over to the ground. Iggy scrambled out of its lifeless grip and spin around to look at the dead Eraser on the floor.

"Eww," he grimaced. He felt his head and tried to get as much of the blood out at he could.

"Sorry about that," I mumbled. Two different snaps ripped through the room and I spun around.

Dylan was standing over two Erasers. Nudge and Gazzy stared at them with shocked expressions.

"Thanks," Nudge breathed to Dylan. He nodded and snapped his head up to look at something behind me. I spun around and saw what he was staring at.

Angel was staring at the last Eraser and I was about to jump at it, when something crazy happened.

The Erasers head jerked sharply to the left, all by itself. It feel limp to the floor, blood pooling from its mouth, staining the carpet. Angel turned to look at us and smiled.

That's just creepy.

Angel glared at me when I though that. Geeze, I gotta stop doing that!

I looked around at the damage done to the house. It was a train wreak. Blood was splattered everywhere, the walls, floors, even some on the ceiling. The walls where dented in at places and the furniture was overturned and shredded up. I sighed.

"Looks like we're gonna have to find a new place to live guys."

Everyone groaned. But we all knew that there was more were this came from. There always was.

* * *

So yeah, I still don't know who Max will end up with yet: Fang, Dylan... or maybe even someone else.

I hope you enjoyed it! I will be writing a bunch more chapters. I have TONS of ideas!

~Rawritscasey


	3. Through the Fire and Flames

Hey people! I wrote this chapter at, like, midnight on a Sunday and I've got school in the morning. Ugh, this isn't going to be fun.

Chapter 3 Song: Welcome Home by _Coheed and Cambria_

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Maximum Ride; James Patterson does. I do not claim any of the existing characters as my own. Although I will be adding new characters... so I guess those are mine. :D_  
_

* * *

**The World As We Knew It  
**Chapter 3: Through the Fire and Flames

Fang was flying over a town in Florida with his new forming flock: Jace and Luna.

Jace was 15, like Fang. He had dark blonde hair, light brown eyes, and pure white wings, specked with light brown at the bottoms. Jace had hydrokinese, or the ability is control water. He could lift a chuck of water from a lake or whatever and form it into a water ball. It really was a sight. He could also weaken others powers, but only for a certain amount of time. Fang found Jace when he saved Fangs life from an Eraser in Chicago. Jace had just escaped from a lab in the city and was on the run, looking for more bird kids, just like Fang was.

They both went back to this lab that Jace had come from and found Luna there. She was, unfortunately, the only one they could save from all the mutants.

Luna was a year younger than the two boys, which meant she was 14. She had light blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and silver wings. Really, they shined and shimmered in the sun and everything. They were the most beautiful wings Fang had ever seen.

You know, after Max's wings of course.

Luna had the ability to turn into a white mist. One minute she would be standing there, the next there would be a cloud of mist that could move anywhere through the air and she would appear in human form again. It was really cool. She was also a healer. She had not been injected by that hypo that Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen had. She had been altered for it. All she had to do was touch the place where the injury was, and it would heal. But it really took a lot of energy from her and she usually had to rest after she healed somebody.

"Where are we going again?" Jace called out to Fang. He was flying about ten feet the right of him.

"We need to find a place to stay tonight," Fang told him.

The wind was whipping Fangs dark hair in his eyes. He figured that he could use a haircut soon.

"Can we take a rest?" Luna whined, "We've been flying for, like, two days."

"Ugh," Fang groaned, "Fine. But we have to be on the look out for an empty house or anywhere else we can stay," he conditioned.

Luna sighed with relief as she began descending into a nearby clearing. Fang and Jace followed her. Like always, Jace didn't say much of anything. That was why Fang liked him best. He was a lot like Fang. Although he didn't dress in head-to-toe black.

Luna planted her feet on the ground, but fell over on her face when she couldn't catch her balance. She hadn't had much practice in flying and she was still a little shaky. Jace on the other hand was already a pro.

Fang and Jace landed swiftly and did a full scan of the area. No signs of danger anywhere near, as far as they could tell.

Fang shifted his backpack from his front to his back, tucking his wings in tightly. He caught a glimpse of a picture sticking out of one of the pockets as he did so. He reached back and pulled it out.

It was a picture of Max.

It was one of the pictures that Angel took at Total's wedding. Fang had his arm around Max and he was looking at her lovingly. He was wearing his God awful suit and Max was wearing that beautiful cream-colored russet silk dress. Her hair pulled back and there were flowers woven into it. She was smiling into the camera; she looked absolutely gorgeous, and clean. There was another copy of this picture hanging up back at his old home.

Fang would have given anything to be curled up next to Max right then, holding her to him, breathing her scent. He could go back to her, nobody was stopping him except for himself.

But he knew that he couldn't. Being with her was distracting him from the bigger picture; the world was coming to an end soon and they needed to stand up and do something about it. But she was a wonderful distraction. When he was with her, he forgot that they were constantly in danger. He forgot about everything because he was so wrapped up in her. He felt safe with her; like nothing bad could ever happen when they were together. But, of course, there would.

Plus, Max probably hated him for leaving her and the flock. The flock most likely hated him as well. He didn't like that fact, but he wanted them to be safe. And he was attracting danger to them by being there. He hoped that Max would someday forgive him, if he ever saw her again.

But the flock had Dylan now. And as much as he hated Dylan, he had to admit that he did seem to care about the flock and could protect them.

Fang hated himself for leaving Max alone with Dylan. The thought of Dylan touching Max made Fang want to punch something, preferably Dylan, as hard as he could. Fang had been with Max her whole life; nobody deserved her but him.

But he knew he could no longer be selfish with Max. He left her; he chose this.

"Earth-to-Fang," Luna said, waving her hand in front of his face as he was lost in thought, "Where to?" she asked.

Fang took another look around. He saw what seemed like a bunch of stores and a couple apartment complexes. Then he spotted a Starbucks at the corner of the strip mall.

"How about we get some coffee then walk around town," he said. He was now the leader of his own flock. The thought was a little scary to him. He made all of the decisions now, and it would be his fault if something went wrong. He didn't know how Max did it, with more than two times as many people to look after. Fang had not yet put any of them in danger. But he knew that one day he would slip up.

Fang, Jace and Luna began walking toward the Starbucks, constantly on the lookout for Erasers of any sort.

There were none. That was a relief.

Fang pushed open the door of the Starbucks and a cool, air-conditioned breeze washed over him. It felt good after many hours of sweating while flying. The aroma of coffee made Luna happy. She bounded over to the counter and gave her order to the worker before Fang and Jace had even stepped two feet into the place. Fang looked around at the people sitting with laptops in front of them. That reminded Fang that he hadn't checked his blog in a couple days.

He strode over to the nearest table and dug through his backpack for his new laptop. He left his old one with Max and the flock.

He opened it; it was already on. He pulled up the internet and typed in the address of his blog.

Inbox (347)

Oh jeez. He clicked on the icon and was bombarded by all of the fan mail. He clicked on the first email.

_Tracy Mulligan  
__Phoenix, Arizona._

_Fang! Why did you leave your flock? You and Max were soooooo cute together! Did she cheat on you with that new kid, Dylan? Oh my gosh, that's horrible. You are sooo much better looking than him! _

_FANG FOREVER!_

Yeah. Those were the kinds of emails that he was getting ever since he announced on his blog that he left the flock. Although he did like the fact that so many people were saying that he was better than Dylan, he was getting annoyed.

Fang sighed and closed his laptop. Right as he did, there was a scream from somewhere outside. Fang immediately stood up and went over to the door.

A crowd of people was gathered about 20 feet away from a building on the other side of the strip mall. He went outside, followed by Jace and Luna.

Fang went over to the crowd and looked up to see what the people were staring at.

A stream of fire shot out of one of the top floor windows of an apartment complex. People all around him screamed and started running the other way. Fang made his way to the front of the crowd, listening to hear if there was anybody trapped in the apartment.

Sure enough, he heard a piercing scream coming through the window that had fire billowing out of it.

Fang had left the flock so they would have a better chance at saving the world. Maybe this was a start.

Fang scanned the building for an entrance and found one at the side of the complex. Jace caught up to him before he entered.

"What are you doing?" Jace asked. He had a hand planted firmly on Fang's shoulder.

"I'm saving the world; one person at a time," he answered and entered the building.

He ran down the hallway until he came across a stairwell. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to find Jace and Luna running after him.

"Go back outside," Fang commanded to them, but they didn't budge.

"I don't want to miss this," Luna said and smiled. Fang rolled his eyes and started up the stairs.

The fire had been on the seventh floor, so they climbed the seven flights of stairs to get to their destination.

Fang pushed through the stairwell door and out into a new hallway. He looked to the left and saw a cloud of black smoke flowing from the bottom of one of the doors. He ran to the door and looked back at his flock, asking if they were ready. They both nodded and Fang kicked down the door.

The heat was unbearable. Fang actually drew back at first, overwhelmed. It was like he had opened an oven at 400 degrees. He pulled his shirt collar up over his nose and mouth, shielding his lungs from the smoke.

The living room of this place was covered with flames. The couch, drapes, and parts of the floor where all on fire. He looked around and tried to find the source of the scream. That was when he saw her.

She was at the kitchen sink, filling a cup of water from the sink and throwing it at the fire. She looked about their age, red hair, tall. Fang began to jog toward her when she spun around, apparently noticing him for the first time. She screamed and raised her hands to shield herself, Fang thought.

But what really happened was she raised her hands and sent flames shooting _from her hands, _right for Fang.

He dodged the worse of the flames, but part of the stream had caught him on his upper left arm. The fire burned through his leather jacket and licked at his skin.

He shucked his jacked off and stomped on it. He also patted his searing arm. His skin was a pure red and parts of his flesh had been burnt black. Tears of pain stung Fang's eyes, but he sucked it up and stood up straight and glared at the girl.

"I'm here to help you! What was that for?" he demanded. She had a sorry expression on her face.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! You scared me!" she told him and burst into tears.

_Oh great_, Fang thought as he turned back to the burning apartment.

Jace was staring wide-eyed at the girl, who was now heaving with sobs. Luna was rolling her eyes and looked at Fang.

"What now?" she asked him. He looked at the kitchen sink that was streaming with water, then he looked at Jace.

"Jace, try putting out the flames with the tap water," he told him. Jace nodded and ran over to the running faucet. Jace put his hands to the water and increased the water pressure. Then he pointed his hands toward the fire on the drapes and the water traveled through the air to slowly extinguish the flames. Fang looked back at the girl who was still sobbing. He stepped closer to her.

"Hey, we need to get out of here," he told her. He reached out to pat her on the back, when he noticed something.

This girl had wings.

The girl, noticing this, jerked from his touch and took a step away from Fang. She stared at him, wondering how she would explain this.

Fang just smiled and shook out his shoulders, extending his majestic black wings. The girl gasped and extended her wings as well. Her feathers where a pretty auburn color. They matched her hair.

She looked around the room at the flames. Her gazed landed on Jace and the water, and she gasped once again.

"Wow," she commented.

"What's you're name?" Fang asked the girl. She stared at him for a moment, wondering if she could trust him, and gave in.

"Brenda," she said, extending her hand. Fang eyed it carefully, sacred that flames would shoot out of them again. She noticed his hesitance and laughed. She dropped her hand.

"No worries. What's yours?" Brenda asked. Fang looked at Jace, who had gotten most of the flames out, he just had the rest of the floor to do.

"Fang," he said and extended his hand, which she took. Her hand wasn't burning hot, like Fang thought it would be. It was a normal temperature, maybe a little warmer than usual, but they were in a burning room.

"I'm Luna," Luna chimed him, taking Brenda's hand as soon as she let go of Fang's. Fang couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Brenda. There was something about her that drew him in. The way she smiled at Luna as she introduced herself. The way her green eyes seemed to sparkle, reflected from the flames. And her auburn hair…

But she was no Maximum Ride.

But still.

"It's all out," Jace interrupted Fang's thoughts. Fang looked around the room. It was badly burned, but only around the living room area.

"This isn't even my place," Brenda added. She laughed.

"Brenda," Fang said, looking at her, "Do you know anybody else that's… like you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I've been on the run for about four months from this lab in Colorado."

_Oh my God, there are more? _Fang thought. He wondered how many more labs around the country were splicing genes to make bird kids and other mutants.

"All by yourself?" Jace asked after he had turned off the faucet, "Oh, I'm Jace by the way," he added. Brenda took his hand.

"Hi Jace, I'm Brenda. And yes, I've been on my own, staying in empty apartments, like this one," she said, spreading her arms to indicate the burned apartment.

Fang heard the growing sounds of sirens coming closer to the building.

"I think we'd better split. Hey, Brenda, you maybe want company?" Fang asked. She looked at him a moment and shrugged.

"Eh, why not," she answered and walked over to the open window. Fang, Jace, and Luna followed her and they all jumped out, unfurling their wings.

They all landed on the sidewalk below the building. Luna, as always, stumbled to keep her balance. Fang noticed that there was a news van parked about a block away. There were news people who were reporting on a store robbery a short distance away from them. When the news people noticed Fang and the rest of the bird kids, they rushed over to them.

A microphone and a news camera were shoved into Fang's face.

"Aren't you one of the bird kids involved with the CSM?"

"Oh my gosh, your arm! What happened up there?"

"Hey you're Fang, right? You've got a blog and everything?"

"Fang, what are you doing here in Florida?"

_Here we go,_ Fang thought.

* * *

I feel like I didn't go into enough detail in this chapter; like maybe I could have explained things better. Especially the beginning. I don't know.

Chapter 4 coming soon. It's going back to update on Max's situation.

~Rawritscasey


	4. Tonight, I Love You

I was listening to Tonight, I Love You by _The Latency_ while I wrote the last part of this. It totally fits the situation and I suggest you listen to it as well. It's a very lovely song. I kind of warms my heart and makes me feel happy. Also, I'm pretty sure the drummer of the band is Spinner from Degrassi.  
Speaking of Degrassi, OMG, I first heard this song on Friday's episode. Oh, I totally love Eclare and can't wait for the next few episodes. Then I have to wait till freaking FEBRUARY for new episodes after next Friday!

Back to Maximum Ride, I wrote the next chapter of my story. It's a little Mylan action in it. Some people might be mad at me, I know. So many people out there are hardcore FAXers and, well, after this, I'm leaning more towards Dylan... uh oh.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**The World As We Knew It  
**Chapter 4: Tonight, I Love You

"But I like this house. It's the closest thing we have to a home," Nudge looked like she was close to tears. I walked over to her and put my arm around her slender shoulders.

"I know, Nudge, but we can't stay here anymore. Someone has found out where we are and we can't risk more of them finding us," I said soothingly. I planted a quick kiss on the top of her head. Her hair was filled with blood and Eraser flesh chunks. I fought the urge to gag.

"Max's right," Dylan butted in. I looked at him, but quickly looked away. Anywhere but those blue eyes. Anywhere but those lips that just a short time ago, had been pressed to mine.

I shook the memory away and snapped back to reality.

"Looks like vacation's over kids. We're on the run again," I told everyone. They all stared at me with sad expressions and nodded, understanding that I was right.

I took another look around the room. Oh man, was it a mess. Blood everywhere, furniture torn to shreds, Eraser bodies lying limp on the floor; all with broken necks.

_You knew that this had to come to an end sometime._

I flinched. Ugh, my Voice needed to stop talking to me at all the wrong times. I let out a long breath.

"Well," Gazzy started, "Where are we going to live now? Is it back to grimy subway tunnels?" he asked.

"These new Erasers are more powerful and there are surely more coming for us, so we are going to have to keep as low profile as possible," I told him. Ugh, I hated this. I was tired and, frankly, my head still hurt like crap. All I wanted to do at that moment was curl up in my bed and sleep for a year. But I knew that we had to get moving as soon as possible.

"Come on guys, let's go," I said and walked over to the broken back porch window and stepped through the hole in the glass. I took a deep breath and pushed off the porch and instantly got a head rush, and not a good one at all. My vision went black for a moment but then came back. I took deep breaths and willed the dizziness away.

I looked back and saw the flock behind me. Dylan came up on my right. He smiled at me and his eyes lit up. My heart did this weird flip-flop this that only happened when Fang smiled at me. This can't be good.

We had only been flying for a little over an hour when my head started to spin. My vision was spiraling out of control and I began to lose altitude. I was pushing my wings down on the air with an uneasy pace and I started leaning toward the right, almost crashing into Dylan. He looked down at me and shouted something, but I didn't hear him clearly. Then my vision tunneled and I knew I was going down. Fast.

My eyelids fluttered open. There were arms wrapped around my body and I was still in the air. My vision focused on the face above me and I saw it was Dylan.

_He caught you before you hit the ground, _my Voice informed me.

_But why did I fall? _I asked.

_Half of your energy level had been taken from you, remember? You're very weak right now, _the Voice told me.

_Well how do I get it back? _

_I'm sorry, I don't have an answer for that, _it said. Great, just freaking great!

"Max," Dylan voice broke through the sound of the wind rushing around me.

"Mmmhmm," I croaked. Apparently, I can't form legit words anymore. Wonderful.

"What happened?" he asked me. I made a groaning sound and my vision tunneled.

Not again.

My whole body jerked and my eyes shot open. I looked up and saw that Dylan was still carrying me. Ugh, I probably looked so weak and helpless to my flock. I hated it.

"You're up," Dylan proclaimed. I noticed then that we had just landed in a subdivision that was completely under construction. There were some houses that seemed like they were finished, but nobody lived in them yet. Perfect.

"Put me down," I told Dylan, who was still clutching me in his arms, a little too tightly if you ask me. His eyes looked worried, but after our little spat (turned make-out session.. ick), he knew better than to disagree with me.

He released his hold on my legs, but kept his hands on my shoulders, steadying me.

The moment that I stood up straight, the world around me spun and I stumbled to the left. I would have fallen over if Dylan hadn't been still holding me upright. I regained my balance and shrugged his hands off my shoulders. I looked around and found that the flock was looking at me with worried expressions.

"Max, what happened up there?" Nudge was the first to speak up.

"Apparently, my energy level has been cut in half, whatever that means," I told them truthfully.

"What do you mean?" Gazzy asked me.

"I heard the Eraser talking to Max about it," Dylan said before I could respond. I resisted the urge to stare him down. Actually, I was too tired to stare him down.

"It absorbed her energy, so she can't exert herself until she gets her energy back," Dylan went on. I scoffed in my head.

_He's right, Max, you need to preserve your energy for when you really need it, _my Voice told me.

_How am I suppose to protect the flock if I'm like this? _I asked.

"I can take over until you get better, Max," Angel advised. I laughed.

"Nice try Angel, you're not ready to be a leader yet and you know it. Remember what happened last time?" I told her. She frowned and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well, I could look after them," I glared at Dylan when he said that, which took a great deal of strength from me. He saw me and his eyes widened.

"I'm not saying I would be the leader, you still would, but I could watch over them while you recovered, however long that will take," he finished. Oh, no way am I leaving my flock in the hands of anyone else.

"I'm fine! I can lead just fine," I said. My vision blurred but I blinked my eyes a couple times and it went back to normal. Okay, I'm going to have to do something about this.

Dylan raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright, just a suggestion," he said. I rolled my eyes and looked around at where we were.

"Um, where are we?" I asked.

"We're somewhere in North Carolina," Dylan answered. Whoa, how long had I been out?

Then I noticed that the sky was turning a dark orange. The sun was disappearing into the horizon. I had to be somewhere around 7:00pm. Oh my gosh, I was sleeping for seven hours? This can't be good.

"Well, since we're here, how about we get some rest," I said to the flock and they all nodded. I began walking toward the nearest finished house, which was about a hundred feet away. It felt like it was 100 miles away though, given my recent energy loss.

The flock followed me and I struggled to walk faster than them because I was so close to dropping to my knees and crawling there. But that would look so pathetic, and that is so not me.

We made it to the house. It was very nice. Nicer than anything we had ever stayed in before. It had two stories and was covered in gray bricks on the front with gray siding on the sides of the house. I walked up the steps to the double door entrance and opened the door. No alarm. Awesome.

I stepped inside and was relived that there was furniture. I should have been worried about realtors showing up at the house sometime, but frankly, I was way too tired to care. I looked back at the flock and saw their sleepy faces. Apparently the flight took a lot out of them. Especially Dylan. He looked about ready to collapse on the nearest couch. I kind of felt bad, since he was the one who had to carry me the whole way. Wait, how had he carried me the whole way? I wouldn't have even been about to carry Angel that whole way. Hmm.

"Let's check out the upstairs," I said and stared toward the stairs.

Climbing stairs when you are about ready to pass out is no easy feat. I sighed with relief when I stood at the top.

I looked down the hall and saw that there were three rooms. Two to a room.

But before I could assign rooms, Gazzy took Iggy's arm and lead him to the nearest room and slammed the door. Then Nudge and Angel walked to the room across from Gazzy and Iggy's and shut the door behind them.

Then that left Dylan and me. Fan-freaking-tastic.

I looked up at Dylan who was standing beside me. He smirked down at me. I rolled my eyes and stomped off to the room at the end of the hallway. I opened the door and was taken aback. The room was beautiful. I guess the realtors wanted to really oversell this house. Well, I'm sold. The room was about two times the size of the room back at our old place. It was painted a light blue and had thin white drapes covering the huge window at the end of the room. There was a double door leading to what I was assuming was a bathroom. And the king-sized bed was absolutely gorgeous. It had a black cushioned headboard with white sheets and a black comforter.

Wait a minute. One bed.

Ugh.

Dylan, noticing this at the same time as me, chuckled to himself and walked toward it. He flopped down on the beautifully made bed and looked over at me.

"Which side do you prefer?" he asked me and smirked. My heart skittered when his turquoise eyes urged me to join him. He laughed.

"Stop blushing and chose a side," he said. I touched my face with my trembling hand and noticed, oh God, that I really way blushing. I think that I blushed even harder when I realized that. Stupid teenage hormones!

I was going to suggest that I sleep on the floor, but oh, that bed looked super comfortable. And I was so tired.

I scoffed at him and strode over to the other side of the bed from him. I sat on the edge and laid down. My hair fanned out on the comforter and some strands stuck to my sweat stained face. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. The newly washed sheets smelled freshly of cotton. I smiled at the nice scent.

I felt the bed beneath me shift and I felt a warm breath on my face. I found myself leaning closer to it. It smelled of mint, also a good scent. Then I opened my eyes and was surprised to see Dylan's face so close to mine. But he was lying the opposite way of me, so his face was upside down to me. I should have sat up and slapped him for being too close to me, but truthfully, I felt comfortable like this. I gazed into his ocean blue eyes in the dimly lit room. The slowly receding light was streaming through the drapes covering the windows. My fingers locked over my stomach and fiddled with each other.

He smiled at me, revealing his pearl white teeth beneath his light pink lips.

"Hey," he whispered. I watched his lips at he formed that one syllable.

"Hey," I responded.

_You're falling for him_.

I ignored the Voice. Right now, I didn't really care. I didn't care about anything. It was like time had stopped and it was just him and me. So what if I was falling for him. It felt good. No, it felt wonderful. He was a nice guy. He cared about the flock. He seemed to protect it well when I was incapacitated. He saved me from falling. He saved me from getting killed by an energy-hungry Eraser. If it weren't for him, I most likely would be dead. And plus, the fact that he was gorgeous. And he obviously liked me.

Maybe I should move on. Dylan was here for me. Right now. Fang left me. He left me and he was not coming back for a long, long time. So what if I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be happy for the first time in a while.

I smiled at him. Jeez, I probably looked like crap, with my face all sweaty and blood all over me. I would take a shower tomorrow… if I even could.

Dylan reached his hand up and brushed a strand of hair from my face. I closed my eyes as his warm fingers swept across my forehead. My heart skipped a beat and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered. I bit my bottom lip and opened my eyes when his hand fell away. There was a strange look in his dazzling eyes that I had never seen before.

"I think that it's completely obvious to you already," Dylan said quietly, "But what ever happens, I'm here for you."

I swear, my heart stopped when he said that. Man, am I in trouble.

"Thanks," I said intelligently. I don't think I could have formed a full sentence. His hand reached up again and began to stroke my cheek. I smiled.

"I just can't get over how lovely you are, Max," he complimented. I ginned ear-to-ear at that.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, "I look like a mess."

"Remember what I said back at the house, even when you look like a mess, I still think you are beautiful. And when you're not a mess, you take my breath away," he said. I don't know how much more I could take without exploding with happiness.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I told him. I reached my hand up and ran my fingers through his tangled mess of blonde hair. I loved how disheveled it looked. I smoothed his hair out of his face and saw a cut that extended about five inches across his forehead. I winced.

"Yeah, one of the Erasers caught me with its claw," he told me. For some unseen reason, I wanted to kiss it.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," he told me, "Being here with you kind of makes the pain go away."

That was when I realized that I didn't feel any pain either. Just happiness. I reality, I should be writhing in pain from the blow to my head and several deep cuts that I have. Not to mention the bruises that were sure to be forming right then. But no, I felt none of that pain. Dylan had swept me off my feet, kind of literally, and carried me to a world where all I have to do is look into his blue eyes and the pain would go away.

Of course, if Fang were still here, I would still be hating Dylan. But Fang isn't here, is he? He left me to fend for myself. And he happened to leave me with a perfect gorgeous guy who liked me and cared for me. This was HIS fault. And right now, I couldn't be more glad.

Maybe Dylan is my perfect mate.

_Finally Max, you see it now, _my Voice said as I thought that. Guh, he needed to stop interrupting me.

Instead of responding to the Voice, I tilted my head up and placed my lips, ever so softly, against Dylan's.

I was filled with an overwhelming amount of heat the moment our mouths connected. He seemed a bit started at first. His lips seemed to tense at my touch. But moments later, they started moving against mine. The kiss was a little awkward since he was upside down to me. But my chest was kind of brushing the top of his head, and I think that he noticed because he smiled into the kiss. But frankly, I didn't care.

It was kind of like the kiss the Mary Jane and Peter Parker shared in Spiderman. But we were both laying down instead of one of us hanging upside down.

Our mouths moved urgently against each other, like we would never get another chance to do this. And hey, being me, maybe we wouldn't. But I didn't want to think about right then. I pushed all of the thoughts that this was the wrong thing to do out of the way and kissed him harder.

I couldn't exactly get the right angle that I wanted in the kiss so I wrenched my lips from his and sat up. I looked down at him. He looked so adorable. His hair all messed up. His lips puffed out from kissing. The dazed look in his beautiful eyes. He was staring up at me looking super confused. I couldn't take it. I took his face in my hands and guided him up so he was sitting in front of me.

Before he had a chance to react, I attacked him. I smashed my throbbing lips to his and moved them frantically. I flung my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. His hands grazed up and down my back, stroking my wings and rubbing the back of my neck. I loved it so much.

Dylan tasted of mint and a hint of sugar. I wanted more. So much more. Without weighing the possibilities, I crawled closer to him and straddled his waist. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to his body, closing the tiny gap between us.

I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged on a chunk, pulling his face closer. Nothing I did was enough. I wanted more. I had never wanted anything more than to be closer to this man. I had never gone this far with a guy. Ever. Not even Fang.

Without warning, Dylan pushed me down onto the bed and crawled on top of me. When he did this though, I got one of the worst head rushes in my life. I felt super queasy and thought I was going to pass out again. Dylan seemed to notice this and he looked at me quizzically.

"What is it?" he asked me. He began kissing the spot just under my left ear, which distracted me greatly.

"I'm just," I mumbled tiredly, "I'm really tired. I'm sorry." He lifted his lips from my skin and looked at me."Yeah, me too. I was just distracted," he smiled. I smiled back at him.

He slid his arm under me and pulled me up to him. He turned me and set me down against a pillow. Then he pulled the blanked out from under me and crawled under next to me, kicking his shoes off. I had not had time to put shoes on, so I had been barefoot the entire time.

His body laid down next to me. I felt his warmth against my left side and smiled. He pulled the blanked over both of us and I snuggled my body next to his, comforted by the warmth. I ran my fingers over his chest, feeling every bump as I passed my fingertips over his hard abs. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

Before I fell asleep, I felt him kiss the top of my head.

"Goodnight, Max," he said. I hummed into his shoulder and smiled.

I'm going to hate myself in the morning.

* * *

Oh no, people are going to dislike me for the Mylan scene! *runs and hids*

~Rawritscasey


	5. Mr Sensitive

A/N: So, this one is pretty short, I know. I kind of had a bit of writers block. The end is a bit cheesy. I really only focused on Fang and Brenda in this chapter.

Chapter song: Strangers by _William Control_

**Disclaimer: **Ugh, I bet everyone already gets the point of these.

Enjoy!

* * *

**The World as We Knew It  
**Chapter 5: Mr. Sensitive

Fang landed silently on the lush grass. Jace landed almost as silently beside him. Luna, on the other hand, stumbled right smack into Fang. He staggered a little to the left and shot Luna a dirty look. She smiled nervously and turned her back to him. He rolled his eyes.

_She has to learn how to freaking land_, Fang though.

Fang glanced up and saw a flash of what looked like flames. When she landed briskly beside him, he realized that it was Brenda's hair, which looked like fire in the sunlight. He found that to be quite beautiful.

But not as beautiful as Max's shining hair in the sun.

Brenda noticed that Fang was staring at her and she smiled.

"You know, it's not polite to stare," she joked and Luna giggled. Fang just rolled his eyes and blushed inwardly. He had gotten pretty used to disguising his emotions.

"We finally got out of there," Fang commented. They all nodded their heads and groaned at the not so distant memory.

"So, you're pretty famous Fang. Why did you leave you're old flock anyway?" asked Brenda. This was a question that Fang did not like. He did not like to think about the day he wrote that letter and left it for Max and the flock. He imagined how they would react. He assumed that they all hated him, especially Max. Leaving her was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. He especially didn't like it that Dylan was still there.

"None of your business," he answered coldly and walked past her, brushing her shoulder with his broad one.

"Jeez, sorry Mr. Sensitive," Brenda shot back, just as coldly. It was then that Fang knew he was not going to like her tagging along. He mentally slapped himself for inviting her in the first place. If it weren't for her fiery hair and deep green eyes, he probably wouldn't have. There was just something else about her too that drew him in and made him want more, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

As Fang continued walking toward the forest that they had landed in front of, he began to realize again how much his arm was throbbing and burning with pain. He stopped and took another look at it.

The entire length of his forearm had been scolded. His skin was blistering red and parts of that skin was black and crispy.

"Oh, sorry about that," Brenda said, noticing the burn. Then he noticed something else. Brenda was wearing his leather jacket. The one that she has burned a hole through. One of the sleeves had a giant burnt hole where her milky skin shone from beneath it.

"That's my jacket," Fang said simply. Brenda looked down at herself and shrugged.

"I didn't want to leave it in the apartment. It's so nice," she said and hugged herself. Fang once again rolled his eyes and started walking toward the forest.

"We need to lay low for a little while after the incident back there," Fang told the flock and they all nodded.

The sky turned a dark blue as Fang and his flock settled into a nice secluded spot on the forest. It was a clearing in the middle of a circle of trees about 20 feet across. Fang had gathered up some logs for a make-shift fireplace and settled the logs in the center of the clearing. The air had grown chilly and Fang had started to get goose bumps from just being in a tee shirt.

"Alright, we have to get a fire started," Jace said as he started looking around for stones to scrap together. But before he could find the stones, Brenda raised her left hand and pointed her palm toward the pile of logs. Brilliant red flames shot from her hand and caught on the logs, setting them aflame. Brenda smiled as Jace stared wide-eyed as he remembered her power. Brenda stopped and shoot out her hand.

Meanwhile, Luna was kneeling next to Fang, placing her small hands over the burn on his forearm. Fang felt a rush of relief flow through him as the burns on his arm began to slowly recede. The burn shrunk until it disappeared altogether. Luna slumped to the ground next to him and breathed heavily, exhausted by the effort that it took from her. She crawled to the other side of the fire, next to Jace, and curled into a tight ball. She looked so precious and innocent when she slept. It almost caused Fang to smile.

It was then that he also noticed that Jace's eye's where fluttering shut and he began to lean back. He too was exhausted by the work he had done today.

Fang glanced over at Brenda, who was staring at him.

"You know, it's not polite to stare," he mocked her. Brenda just smiled and continued to gaze at him. She was leaning back on her elbows, her bright hair spilling over her creamy slender arms. Her eyes once again highlighted by the dancing flames in front of them. She had taken off his leather jack and was using it as a blanket for her legs, which were uncovered because she had been wearing pretty short shorts. Not that, you know, Fang noticed or anything.

Her lips curled up into a grin as she gazed at him, admiring his lean yet muscular frame.

"I have heard of you before," she spoke. Fang's gaze shot up from her puff out chest - oh Fang - and looked her in the eyes.

"I've seen you a couple times on the news. And I read your blog once," she admitted to him.

"Yeah, a lot of people read my blog," he said. He thought that he sounded a little too conceded. But she smiled anyway.

"You were always with that brown haired girl," she said. He knew that she meant Max.

"Maximum Ride right?" she asked. Fang nodded. He really didn't want to talk about this right now.

"Yeah, she's kind of my bird kid idol," Brenda told him. Fang smirked.

_Mine too_, he thought.

"I know that you're not going to answer me, but I have to ask again," Brenda started, "But why did you leave your flock? I mean, the real reason." He wished that she would just let it go already. He obviously didn't want to talk about it.

But the only way she would shut up, Fang knew, was to tell her. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Because I fell in love," he truthfully. She looked at him questioningly.

"Who with?" she wanted to know, though she had a good idea of who.

"Max," he said simply.

"Did you guys break up of something?" she asked.

"Something like that," he answered. Brenda scooted closer to Fang and leaned against his left side. Fang tensed at her touch, but then loosened up a bit after he felt how warm she was against him.

"I'm sorry," she said and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Fang leaned back and laid down on the ground and Brenda followed, still pressed up against him.

"Well," Brenda whispered into his ear, causing him to shiver, "If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here," she promised. Then she tilted her head up and placed a tiny kiss on Fang's cheek. He tensed again, then relaxed has she snuggled up to him. He was going to tell her to move, but it felt nice to have someone there.

"You're so warm," Brenda commented. Fang smiled and closed his eyes on the stars above him.

He was going to hate himself in the morning.

* * *

Back to Max for the next chapter. I don't know when it will be up... but I swear it'll be longer than this pathetic excuse for a chapter.

~Rawritscasey


	6. It Never Ends

A/N: Here, I present to you the newest edition to my story. This part contains some coarse language; just a warning. I liked writing this part. More action and stuff like that, finally!

Chapter song: I'm Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? by _A Day To Remember_

Woo! Enjoy lovelies!

* * *

**The World as We Knew It  
**Chapter 6: It Never Ends

_I felt his warm breath on my ear._

"_I would never leave you, Maximum," he whispered. I smiled into his shirt. _

_I was curled up next to him. I clung to his body, smashing it against my own. I wasn't letting go. Not ever._

_His fingers weaved through my hair and massaged my scalp. I moaned at how good it felt. I ran my fingers over his chest and up toward his neck. I clasped it in my hands and brought it closer to me. I placed light kisses on his neck and I felt it vibrate under my touch. I grinned into his skin and kissed his flesh harder, loving the noises that he made. _

_His fingers disentangled their way out of my messy hair and ghosted their way down my side. They skimmed the exposed skin on my hip. My shirt had been pulled up to just above the bottom of my ribcage during the night, no doubt. Otherwise, he pulled it up. And for some reason, I didn't mind. _

_I pulled my lips from his neck and nuzzled my face into the soft skin of his shoulder. _

"_I love you," he told me. I lifted my face up to look into his black eyes. _

"_I love you too, Fang," I told him truthfully. I would never get tired of gazing at that beautiful dark face of his._

"_Fang?" he asked, a look of confusion spread across his face. What was he talking about? _

"_Uh, that's your name, isn't it?" I joked. He was acting weird. It was incredibly cute._

"_Um, no," he answered. _

The room darkened from the glowing state that it had just been in. The world around us was no longer pure white. The shoulder I was leaning on was no longer covered in a black tee shirt, but instead a pale blue v-neck stained with blood. The skin I had been kissing had turned from an olive tone to a wonderful, tanned color. The dark hair that I had been admiring shifted from pitch black to dirty blonde. And those eyes. Those dark eyes lightened into a blue color, ringed with a brilliant green. The face I had feel in love with had changed shape, but it was still gorgeous, just the same.

I leapt up from Dylan's embrace like the contact had caused me to be electrocuted.

"Dylan!" I almost shouted.

"Uh, no. Apparently it's Fang now," he remarked sarcastically. Well this is embarrassing.

"Sorry," I muttered and sat up in the bed. Ugh, had I been dreaming about Fang again?

" I don't blame you. I know that it's going to take you a while to get over him," he soothed. He stroked my cheek with his thumb. I leaned into his warm hand.

I was over Fang. Wasn't I? I mean, I had just made out with Dylan last night, right?

Wait! I had just made out with _Dylan _last night?

I gasped and sprung up from the bed. Oh my God! That had been so wrong! How could I have been so stupid? So weak? I actually let that slimy guy kiss me? And I had kissed him back!

Oh man.

I mentally kicked my own ass right then. I stood at the side of the bed and clutched my head in my hands, pulling my hair out. The bed springs shifted in front of me.

"What's wrong?" a soft voiced asked me. I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I instantly jerked my body out of his reach and looked at him.

Oh, why did I have to look at him? His turquoise eyes. His blonde bed head. His adorable puppy-dog face.

"I didn't mean what I did last night," I said quickly. Rejecting him was not going to be easy.

Why couldn't I bring myself to say no to this guy. Just because he looked like 10 times more attractive Brad Pitt, or James McAvoy. Was this another one of his powers? Being irresistible?

Oh no. If that was the case, was I in big trouble.

"It seemed like you meant everything you did. You practically jumped me, Max," he laughed. Oh, his smile.

Ugh! Who am I turning into?

"You took advantage of me when I was vulnerable," I pointed out. I tried my best to glare at him. He jumped off the bed and stood next to me. His hands stroked my arms up and down.

"Max, why can't you just admit that we are good together? Is it because you still love Fang. If that's the case, I'll give you time-" I cut him off.

"I don't need to be with anybody right now!" I snapped and stepped out of his reach. I stalked over to the door to the hallway and opened the door.

I stepped out into the hallway and was greeted by the faces of my flock.

"Morning Max," Nudge said and came over to give me a hug.

"Morning guys," I said to everyone.

Ig and Gazzy were sitting in the middle of the hallway, passing a piece of paper back a forth, making adjustments to whatever it was. Angel stood by the door to her room, arms crossed and staring up at me.

She had undoubtedly heard what had gone on between Dylan and me this morning, and maybe even last night. I shuddered at that thought.

_Max, set your ego aside and be with Dylan_, Angel sent into my thoughts. Oh great, she wanted me to be with Dylan too?

_Why does everyone want me to be with Dylan? Why can't I just be freaking single?_ I shot back at her.

_You can only save the world when you two are together_, she informed me. Huh?

_What is that suppose to mean? _I asked her. I was glaring at her now.

But all she did was smile and look away from me.

What did she mean by that? She really thought that I couldn't save the world without Dylan? Well, missy, guess what? I sure as hell can.

_No, you can't. You're too stubborn to see it right now. But you'll see it one day_, Angel read my mind and answered.

_I don't need Dylan! _I screamed in my head to her.

_Yes you do._ This time, it was my Voice who answered me. Fabulous. They were ganging up on me now. Just what I needed.

_Give me one good reason why I do! _I told the Voice. But it didn't answer me.

My life sucks.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there was a loud _bang _that came from outside. I instantly tensed up and looked around at the flock. They had heard it too.

I bounded down the stairs and tried to get a look at what was outside through the window, but I saw nothing. Weird.

I reached the bottom of the stairs. I was just about the round the corner to the front door, when a hand wrapped around my mouth and pulled me into the kitchen.

I heard the flock shout my name, but nobody came in after me. I heard some loud thuds and fist-to-face contact sounds. Apparently there were more of whatever was attacking me.

I was thrown against the kitchen island and the pots and pans rattled above me. I opened my eyes and saw a man. He looked a couple years older than me. Maybe 18. He cocked his head when he saw me looking at him and grinned.

He had dark brown hair and cool green eyes. He had pale skin and was nonetheless attractive. But this was not the time for those thoughts!

I lunged at him. I knocked him into the cabinets. I took a handful of his hair and smashed his head into the surface of a cabinet door, breaking the wood. He raised his knee and smashed it into my side, defiantly breaking a rib.

I stumbled to the left, clutching my side and catching my breath. I felt a hand grasp my face. He turned my face to face his. His eyes were boiling with rage.

I tried to raise my fist to deck him in the face, but I found that I couldn't. In fact, I couldn't move any part of my body. I was paralyzed.

"Hello Maximum Ride, I've heard such wonderful stories about you," this man said to me. I wanted to spit in his face, but I still couldn't move. What had he done to me.

"My name is Kieran. And if you are wondering, my powers are rendering you unmovable so I can talk to you without you flipping a bitch on me," he told me.

"I'm part of an organization called _Night Angels_. I was sent here to recruit you and your flock as our newest members," he informed me. _Night Angels_? Why haven't I heard of this before?

"Because we are an underground organization, smart one," he answered, reading my thoughts.

"Now, if I release you, will you stay calm and have a rational conversation with me?" he asked.

_Yes_, I lied to him in my thoughts. To my surprise, he released me. Who's the smart one now, huh Kieran? He chuckled as I thought this. Damn mind readers.

I stumbled back and caught my balance. My head felt heavy and I felt like I was going to collapse. Oh no. Not again with this!

Just then, there was an earsplitting bang out in the living room, but I couldn't see what it was. It sounded a lot like a gun.

"Nudge!" I heard Gazzy screech. I tried to run to the living room to see what had happened, but Kieran stopped me, of course. He sent his fist flying into my nose, splitting skin on my face. I staggered back and clutched the counter to keep from toppling over. I heard Kieran chuckle. He made a _tisk tisking _sound and appeared, as if out of nowhere, in front of me.

"Don't you run away from me Maximum," he scolded me. It was just then that he shrugged his shoulders and unfurled his dark chocolate colored wings. _All 16 feet of them. _He could just barely spread them their whole length, since the kitchen was kind of small.

I tasted a metallic substance in my mouth. I had bit my tongue when he punched me and all I could taste was blood. I took this opportunity and gathered up all the blood I could in my mouth, and sent it flying toward his face.

Kieran drew back from me and curled in his wings, trying to get the blood from out of his eyes.

I took advantage of this and bolted from the kitchen and into the living room.

But what I saw in there horrified me to my core.

In the middle of the floor was Nudge lying face down on a blood soaked carpet. Everyone turned to face me. Each and every one of my flock was being held by, what I was assuming, was members of this _Night Angels_ organization.

_You'd be right about that_, I heard Kieran's voice in my thoughts. I felt a kitchen pan connect with the side of my face.

Everything faded as I came crashing down onto the floor. I heard the horrified voices of my flock screaming my name.

When I hit the floor, the world went dark.

* * *

I know, another short chapter. I'm starting to get a little lazy about that. Guh.  
I love cliffhangers! Don't you? Well, I'm continuing Max's story for the next chapter. Just an FYI.

~Rawritscasey


	7. Join Us

A/N: This chapter is a bit short. I think Ill be going back to Fang's POV after this one. Just to leave you in suspense at the end of this chapter, which has another one of those cliffhangers! Fun!

Chapter song: Get Up by_ Barcelona_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Maximum Ride! James Patterson does! But everyone knows that so this is kind of pointless.

* * *

**The World as We Knew It**  
Chapter 7: Join Us

I opened my eyes.

But I quickly shut them when the searing bright lights blinded me. I cringed and turned my head, eyes shut tight.

I tried to remember where I was. How did I get here? What is going to happen to me? Where is the flock? Is anybody hurt?

My mind raced with questions as I tried to piece together what I was doing in this room. I tugged at the shackles that held my wrists at my sides. My ankles were shackled too. From what I felt, my neck was also loosely held down by chains as well.

Was I back at the School?

No, that's impossible. It was destroyed. Right? Wait, how long had I been here? And where exactly was I?

_This is not the School, Max_, the Voice answered.

_Then where am I? _I asked. I tried to lift my head to fully check my surroundings, but was punished greatly. As soon as my head left the surface I was laying on, I was rewarded with the worst headache I have ever experienced. I groaned and let my head fall back to the surface.

I was on something steel. A table maybe? I couldn't tell.

That was when panic set in. Where was the flock? I could tell that they were not in the room with me. If they weren't here, where were they? My heart raced and my breathing picked up. If whoever put me here had hurt them-

A door opened. I couldn't see who it was though, because of the restraints (and the headache). Footsteps loomed closer to me and I tugged at the restraints as hard as I could, hating the feeling of being vulnerable.

"That's not going to do you any good, Maximum," a male voice told me. I turned my head upward and let my eyes adjust to the lights.

Once they did, I gazed on the face of an impossibly handsome man. He looked like he was in his late twenties.

"Who are you?" I spat out at this man. He walked away for a moment, but came back, dragging a chair behind him. He situated the chair next to the table I was on and sat down in front of me.

"Hello Maximum, my name is Dr. Alexander Lanman. I am the leader of an organization that you may be familiar with, _Night Angels_," he said.

_Night Angels_.

Why did that sound so familiar? I had so many questions at the moment, that I didn't even know where to begin.

"Do you remember anything relating to how you got here?" Dr. Lanman asked me.

"Um, no," I managed to get out. To tell the complete truth, I was scared. I was scared out of my mind.

"Ah, that blow to the head must have caused some memory loss," he sighed. Blow to the head? What was this crazy doctor talking about? I tried to come up with some snide comment, but I didn't have the energy to really do anything. What had these people done to me?

"What?" I croaked. He eyed me for a moment.

"One of own members, Kieran, smacked you in the head with a frying pan," he told me calmly.

Kieran.

Holy crap! I knew that name! But how? I remember the name, just not the person that the name fit. And why had this Kieran guy hit me with a frying pan? How did I even know him?

"Hello again, Max," a man stepped our from behind the doctor and I instantly tensed. Then my memory came rushing back.

He had broken into the house we were staying at and threatened me into joining _Night Angels_. I had gotten away from him and found Nudge in a pool of blood. Then I was knocked out.

Wait a second. Nudge!

"Where's my flock?" I tried my best at sounding firm, but I'm pretty sure I failed.

"Let's not worry about them right now," Dr. Lanman told me. Was he crazy? Or had he also been hit upside the head with a frying pan as well? Of course I was going to worry about my flock!

"What did you do to them?" I asked. Kieran cracked his neck and knuckles.

"They've been detained," he told me. A ball of rage formed in my stomach and came bursting up my throat and out my mouth.

"If any of them are hurt, I swear to Lucifer-"

"Max!" Dr. Lanman shouted, interrupting me. Kieran chucked and pulled up a chair of his own, settling it beside the doctors chair.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I asked. The doctor smiled.

"We want you to join us, along with your flock," he told me simply.

"Are you kidding me? We are fine on our own, thank you," I said, starting to feel a little too tired for my liking at the moment.

"We need you. It's you're quest to save the world right? Well, we at _Night Angels _are doing just that," he said.

"What exactly is _Night Angels_?" I asked.

"We are an organization of mutant bird kids who will survive the apocalypse and repopulate the earth after all of the humans are gone," Kieran answered my question.

WTF?

"So, you're just gonna let all of the humans die and save yourselves? That doesn't sound like saving the world to me," I said. Seriously, why am I so tired?

"There is no way to save the humans. Believe me, we have explored all options. But humans will not be able to survive in the environment the earth will be left in after the apocalypse," Dr. Lanman informed me.

"What is this freaking apocalypse that everyone keeps talking about anyway?" I asked, starting to slur my words.

"We cannot share that information with nonmembers," Kieran grinned.

"Wait," I said, remembering something, "How many bird kids are there?" I asked.

"More than you know, Max," Dr. Lanman said. Well, that helps!

"And what happens if I don't join your little organization," I asked.

"If you don't join us, you're little boy toy dies," Kieran told me. Wait, who was he talking about?

"Who?" I asked. Kieran laughed.

"Don't play dumb!" he shouted. The doctor held out a hand to stop Kieran. Kieran frowned and slumped back in his chair.

"Max, if you don't join us," the doctor paused for a moment, "Then Fang dies."

* * *

Where's the flock, hmm? Oh, mysteries!

Fang's POV next chapter! Woop woop!

~Rawritscasey


	8. The Evil I Once Knew

A/N: This one was one of my favorites to write. Some shockers and twists in the story. Be prepared for another cliffhanger! :P

Chapter song: Distance Is Destroying Me by _Our Last Night_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the original Maximum Ride characters. I also don't own the story, written by the brilliant James Patterson.

* * *

**Life as We Knew It  
**Chapter 8: The Evil I Once Knew

_Fang!_

Fang shot up into a seated position. His head spun around to check the perimeter. He wondered who had shouted his name. His flock were all sleeping on the ground; Jace and Luna on the other side of the unlit fire and Brenda next to him. I couldn't have been any of them. But if it wasn't them, then who?

_Fang! Can you here me?_

'What the heck,' Fang thought. The voice sounded familiar. But it sounded too far away for him to put his finger on it exactly.

_Hello? Fang? Can you hear me? _

He looked around again. It wasn't coming from any particular direction. He pulled his legs so they were under him and he stood up. He took another look around. He wondered if he really heard that voice, or if he had finally gone insane.

_No, Fang, you're not insane._

'Whoa,' Fang thought. Had that voice just read his mind? The voice sounded a lot closer to him. But he did not hear twigs being snapped under feet in the forest. Nor did he see any sort of being around him other than his flock.

That voice was super familiar to Fang. The fact started to bug at him. The voice was female, and it sounded like a little child. A little child who could read minds.

_Angel? _Fang asked in his head. It was right then that he realized that the voice was not being heard by anyone but him, which meant there really was nobody in the forest. The voice was in his head.

_Yes Fang! You hear me! _Angel sounded relived and scared. Fang wondered how she was doing this and where she was. Also why she was contacting him anyway.

_Fang, you need to help us_, Angel told him.

_Why? What's going on? _Fang started to become worried. Angel wouldn't be asking him for help if it wasn't big.

_They captured us. We're all in some sort of jail cell. But they have Max separated from us. I can't find out what they are doing to her. We've tried every means of escape, but there is no way. You have to help us_, Angel sounded super desperate. That wasn't too good of a sign.

_Where are you? _Fang asked, hoping that they were not at the School. But the School was gone. Right?

_A Night Angels research facility in North Carolina_, Angel informed him. That wasn't too far from where Fang and his flock was.

_On my way_, Fang told her simply. He walked over to where his backpack laid on the ground and slung it against his body.

* * *

"Wait, hold up Fang," Luna stopped Fang in his track and stood right in his face, "Where in the heck are we going?" she asked him, a slight edge in her voice. Fang sighed.

"We have to go save my old flock," he cringed inwardly at the word 'old'.

"How do you even know that they are in trouble?" Brenda asked from over his shoulder.

"I just know," Fang stated simply, not wanting to go into a whole discussion on the wonder that is Angel.

"Let's just go guys," Jace spoke up. He had been standing quietly off to the side of their argument, "We should do something more than sit around and save mutants from burning buildings that they themselves set on fire."

Brenda smiled sheepishly.

Fang looked at everyone for approval. Although he didn't need it, because he was the leader and he could make them go. But he decided to be an authoritative leader. Not authoritarian, like Max.

After a moment or so, everyone looked at Fang and nodded once. Fang smirked and adjusted his backpack around his front so it was secure.

"Alright then, let's go," Fang declared and gave himself a running head start.

Then he launched himself into the air, careful not to slam right into a tree.

Once he was out of the tree line, he looked back and saw Jace, Luna and Brenda all following him out of the forest and into the sky.

'I'm coming for you guys,' Fang thought.

* * *

It had been a long flight. About five hours. But they had all made it.

Fang and his flock stood in front of a small building that Fangs inner navigation system had lead him to. He was sure that this was the place these _Night Angel _people were keeping his old flock, but he felt a little doubtful.

It was just so small. It kind of looked like an abandoned coffee shop. When Fang inspected the inside through the large window, he saw that there was, indeed, a bar with a cash register, a bunch of broken tables and chairs, and nobody in the place. The whole inside looked to be covered in dust.

"Uh, Fang? Are you sure this is the place. 'Cause it doesn't look like much," Brenda asked. She came up from behind Fang and gazed at his profile.

"I don't understand. This can't be right," he said disbelievingly. Luna came up on Fangs other side and pressed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We can keep looking," she told him. Fang shook his head.

"What if it's too late," he sounded choked up. Luna looked at him in shock. In the whole time that she had known Fang, she had never seen him this close to tears. And why was he going to go and cry anyway? Luna squeezed her fingers around his shoulder.

"Hey, don't fall apart on us man," she said, a little too sternly. She just didn't believe what she was seeing.

Luna looked back at Jace, who just kept staring blankly at the store. Recognition seemed to cross his face, but it quickly vanished. Luna cocked her head at Jace and narrowed her eyes. What had he known about this place?

"You made it," a little girls voice cut through the silence that had fallen over their group. Everyone's head spun around and faced the girl. She had curly blonde hair and looked incredibly cute and innocent. But Fang knew better.

"Angel?" Fang asked, looking a bit confused. Angel just smiled at him and strode closer. Jace, Brenda and Luna instantly tensed up. Fang just gazed at Angel, a strange expression on his face.

"Hello again Fang," Angel grinned up at Fang as she went up and wrapped her small arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug. But Fang didn't hug back. He pushed her away.

"What's going on here?" Fang asked, starting to sound mad. Angel giggled.

"I missed you, Fang," she said, ignoring his question. Fang became even more angry.

"What. Is. Going. On. Here," he pronounced every word slowly, not caring that he had spit on her.

"Oh Fang, you are so easy to manipulate," Angel said sweetly. Fang glared at her.

"What are you talking about? Where's the flock?" he asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," she told him.

Then everyone suddenly slumped to the ground around Angel, unconscious.

* * *

Fang woke to unbearable pain slicing through his chest. He gasped and his eyes sprung open. There was screaming. His eyes swung to the direction of the screaming, but his eyes wouldn't focus and he couldn't see.

He was in so much pain. His head lifted off of a steel table and down at his chest. There was a pair of gloved hands yielding a knife. There was a vertical line of blood, about 11 inches, running along his bare chest. He yelled in pain.

"Fang! Fang!" the voice was screaming. It sounded like they were talking to him through a closed window. His head fell back to the table and he turned toward the voice. His vision began to clear.

It was Max.

His heart rate picked up and he began tugging at the restraints with as much energy as he could muster. But it didn't do much good. It only made the pain in his chest hurt more.

"Max," he croaked. He looked at her.

She was a complete mess. Her beautiful hair now hung in tangles around her shoulders. There was a bunch of blood in it. She looked ghostly pale. Her chocolate brown eyes were wild. She had the most scared expression on her face.

"Okay! Okay! Fine, I'll join! Stop it! Stop hurting him!" she cried frantically. Tears fell from those gorgeous eyes. Fang wanted so badly to crawl over to her and wipe them away and tell her that everything was going to be alright. But clearly, it wasn't.

Fang stared at her in confusion.

"What?" he managed to choke out. Then there was another voice.

"Alright Kieran, you can stop now," the man spoke to another man. The other man looked down at Fang and smiled. His gloved hand lifted the knife up. He wiped the blood from the knife with his other hand, letting it drip onto Fangs right hip.

This man, Kieran, set the knife on a little rolling table that harbored horrific looking tools that Fang wanted nowhere near him, or Max. Kieran picked up a hypo and flicked the tube a couple times. The he pushed the plunger a little, letting a clear liquid shoot out of the top.

"What are you doing?" Max asked. She sounded like she was crying. Fangs chest tightened at the sound of Max crying. He hated hearing her like that.

Kieran walked to the opposite side of the table and loomed over Fang.

"Say goodnight, emo boy," he said and chuckled. Fang hated being called 'emo'.

Kieran turned the needle to face downward, right over the flesh of Fang's left arm. He tried to get loose from his restraints, but again, it didn't work. Kieran chuckled again.

Then he stuck the needle into Fangs left forearm, right into a vein. Fang jerked his arm when he felt the sharp pinch of the needle. His head began to cloud and his vision started to fade.

The last thing he heard was Max screaming.

* * *

~Rawritscasey


	9. We Will All Evolve

A/N: So, we're back to Max's POV for this chapter. What happened to Fang? And what happened to the rest of the flock? Also, where is Nudge? Two out of these three questions will be answered.

Chapter song: We Will All Evolve by _Our Last Night_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Maximum Ride, the original story or the original characters and all. That ownership belongs to James Patterson.

* * *

**The Worlds As We Knew It  
**Chapter 9: We Will All Evolve

I have been laying here for who knows how long and I haven't had a bite to eat. My stomach had been growling for over an hour and I felt like I was going to throw up, I was so hungry. Kissing Dylan seemed like it happened a million years ago.

I haven't been able to move all that much, what will being strapped to a table and half my energy level gone and all. Oh, and also, I had watched Kieran as he sliced open Fangs chest and heard him scream in pain. I guess that's why I've been crying so much.

How did they even find him? I just can't believe that they would do that to him.

When Dr. Lanman and Kieran rolled him into my room, I wasn't at all happy to see him. He had looked terrible. He had looked dead. I still can't shake the thought of Kieran hurting him. As soon as the knife pressed into his skin, he screamed. It was the most agonizing sound that I had ever heard.

I can't believe that I underestimated them. I thought that they couldn't possibly kill Fang, but I guess I was wrong.

My face scrunched up and I turned my head to the side, letting out another sob. Why did they want me in this stupid _Night Angels _organization anyway? They should know that I don't follow the rules. Shouldn't Kieran have known that, since he told me that he had heard so many stories about me. They would really stoop so low as to threaten Fangs life? I just couldn't believe it.

Pure anger and hatred flowed through my veins. I thrashed against my restraints as hard as I could. I let out a shriek that could wake the dead. The veins in my neck and head stuck out as I continued to scream.

I wouldn't let them do this to me. I wouldn't let them do this to the flock. And I damn well wouldn't let them do this to Fang.

Suddenly, I felt nothing but air beneath me and I came crashing to the ground. What the heck?

My butt smashed into the ground first, followed by my legs, back, arms and head. I froze instantly. What had just happened? I was just strapped to a table. I looked down at my wrists and saw red marks, but no shackles. I looked even further down at my ankles, and no shackles. I looked around the room. It was empty. No table. No nothing.

I laid there for a little while trying to make sense of this strange occurrence. There was only one real rational explanation that came to my mind:

Had I just developed a new power?

Could I make things disappear, just like that? Well, if that was the case, I would have liked to have known about it when they brought Fang in here so I could have beat the crap out of Dr. L and Kieran.

I slowly got up, stretching out my wings. Us bird kids don't exactly enjoy laying on our backs for long amounts of time, because of the whole wings factor and all.

I looked down at myself and seemed to just then realize that my clothes had changed. I was now wearing a white tank top and black shorts. When had this happened?

I shuddered at the thought of it and pushed it out of my head.

I slowly got to my feet and used the wall to balance myself as the room started to spin. When the room had come to a stop, I glance up and found the door. I staggered over to it and found the doorknob with my shaking hand. It was locked.

Crap.

Well this is fantastic. I really didn't have the energy to kick a door down. My hand fell away and I hung my head. Then I took a sharp breath in as I remembered something.

Maybe I could make it disappear.

But how? How had I made the table disappear? I was really angry right? Maybe if I thought of them hurting Fang and focused my attention on the door, it would disappear.

I allowed myself to remember the vivid memories of Fang being hurt. But then I started to remember reading the note that he left when he ditched up, and I started to get even more mad. I continued to stare at the door.

Nothing happened.

That was when I got even more mad. Why the hell wasn't it working now? I got so angry that I coiled my fingers into a ball and set them crashing toward the door. But the moment my fist connected with the door, it disappeared. I stood in the doorway and smiled.

I stepped over the threshold and scanned my surroundings. I was in an empty hallway. No other doors. The walls were a bright white, as were the marble floors.

I started walking down this seemingly endless hallway, pressing my hand against the wall to steady myself.

I tried to listen for any sort of conversation or any sound at all, but there was nothing. Dead quiet.

I walked and walked, for what seemed like hours. Then I came across another hallway to my right. But I heard voices coming from the hallway, so I stopped dead in my tracks and pressed my back against the wall and listened.

"What are you doing with her?" Iggy shrieked. I let out a breath of relief. He was safe.

"Why can't we just see her? And what about Nudge? Is she alive?" That was Gazzy. Wait, Nudge wasn't with them? Just then the image of Nudge laying unconscious in a pool of her own blood flashed across my mind. I shook my head and continued to listen.

"They are both fine. That's all you need to know," Dr. L told them.

"Just let them go!" Fang cried. There was a rattling sound, like a cage door being shaken. Oh good, Fang was okay too!

"Calm down Fang," Angel told him. She was also okay.

"Shut up traitor! You can't tell me what to do!" Fang exclaimed. Whoa, what is going on?

"Stop it!" Dylan yelled. Oh, he was okay too.

"What's going on?" a girl asked. I wasn't familiar with her voice.

"I don't understand," another girls voice said. Who were these people?

"It's a long story," Fang said. Then, out of nowhere, someone burst into tears. Like, horrible shrieking sobs. I almost had to cover my ears it was so appalling.

"It's okay Brenda," I heard Fang say over the sobs. Who's Brenda?

"Are you kidding me? Look at yourself Fang! Are you telling me that this happens every day for you?" she cried.

"Kind of," Fang said. Then her sobs were muffled, like she was crying into a pillow, or a person.

I was so engrossed in this new development that I didn't notice the tall figure looming over me.

"Enjoying yourself Max?" Kieran asked me. My heart kicked into overdrive and I swung my fist at his face. He quickly dodged it and caught my wrists in his hands.

"Hey now. Let's calm down, shall we?" he said. Oh no he didn't.

"Get out of my face creep," I hissed at him. I tried to make sure that they couldn't hear this conversation down the hall.

"Yeah, I'm just going to let you go frolicking around on your own. That's a good idea," he told me sarcastically. That made me super mad.

I spit in his face and pulled at his grasp on my wrists. Something inside him seemed to snap. He snarled at me and twisted my body around. He took my wrists and tied them together with something. I reached my leg back and sent it straight for his crotch. I got him pretty good. He doubled over on the ground. I took the opportunity and bolted down the hallway.

The only person I saw was Dr. L. He looked at me with a shocked expression.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me. I stopped right in front of him. Then I looked over and saw a jail cell. And in that jail cell were Iggy, Gazzy, Dylan, Fang, and three other people, a guy and two girls, that I didn't recognize. Wait, what about Angel?

"Hello Max," Angel said, stepping out from behind Dr. L.

"Oh, not this crap again!" I cried at Angel.

"Oh my gosh Max, you're okay!" shrieked Gazzy.

"What do you think you're doing now?" I asked Angel bitterly, ignoring Gazzy.

"These people will help us survive the apocalypse," she told me. I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh," I groaned, "Are you kidding me?"

"You agreed to join us Max," Dr. L kindly informed me.

"Only because you were gonna slice Fang up if I didn't! What was I suppose to do?" But before he could answer me, I heard heavy footsteps behind me and I turned around. I was too late.

Kieran crashed his entire body against me and we both went flying through the air. We landed, me on bottom, on the hard marble floor. I gasped and tried to suck in a breath and found that I couldn't. My wings were crushed under me and I landed on my hands, which were still tied behind me. Lovely.

Using my new found power, I focused on my anger and the tie that held my hands together disappeared. But I didn't broadcast it just then.

"Max!" everyone cried out. Kieran lifted his upper body and gazed down at me. He smiled at me and raised his fist. But before he could send it straight into my face, he disappeared. Just like that.

Whoa, I wasn't even trying that time. Wait, were was all of this stuff going that I was making disappear? Well, this really isn't the time to think about that.

I slowly rose to my feet and looked at everyone. They all stared at me with horrified expressions. I shrugged.

"I don't know either," I said. I walked over to the jail bars and clutched them. Then they were gone. This is a useful power. Everyone stalled, gaping at me for a moment.

"Come on!" I yelled and everyone was on their feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Angel said from behind me.

"I could ask you the same question," I said bitterly. I swung my body around and faced her. Then I did the most shocking thing. I raised my hand and backhanded her, right in the face. Her eyes went wide with shock and I recovered before she did.

"Come on everyone," I said and started running. I looked behind me and saw the Dylan, Iggy, Gazzy, Fang, and the three other people were running too.

"Where are we going?" Dylan asked me, catching up to me.

"We're going to find Nudge, then get our asses out of here," I told him.

The whole time that we were running, I kept thinking about what I did to Angel.

_I can't believe I did that_.

* * *

~Rawritscasey


End file.
